Star Performance: Questions Every Hiring Manager Must Ask
What contributes to an individual's ability to remain a management star? To what extent does past star performance predicate future star performance? And to what extent does a key organizational factor of colleague quality help or hinder the ability to sustain star performance?
The performance of stars is an important career matter for individuals as well as for managers who want to inspire, nurture, and recruit stars.
It is true that a star's past performance indicates future performance—but the quality of colleagues in his or her organization also has a significant impact on the ability to maintain the highest quality output. Stars need to recognize that despite their talent, knowledge, experience, and reputation, whom they work with really matters for sustaining top performance.
Let's begin with the key question, who "owns" top performance: individual stars or their organizations?
Studies show that even though an individual's past performance can indicate future performance, the organization also significantly affects top performers' ability to maintain their performance.
Stars need to recognize that despite their talent, knowledge, experience, and reputation, whom they work with really matters for sustaining top performance. Stars are courted by headhunters all the time. When considering a career move, it is very important for stars to evaluate the level of support they are receiving from their colleagues in different parts of the organization.
For hiring managers, it is imperative to understand that stars are not self-contained silos. Producing top-quality work requires collaboration and the flow of information among a network of top performers.
That means anyone's decision on hiring and retention can have a real impact on the performance of top employees in an entirely different part of the organization. It also means that it is not enough to have a few star performers here and there within the organization.
If these stars lack high-quality support and information-sharing with other star colleagues, they will have a harder time maintaining their star performance.
Organizations that already have a large pool of high-performing individuals might have built a competitive advantage.
Their stars make it more likely for each other to sustain top performance and organizations that lack this advantage fight an uphill battle.
Contact us today if you are considering a career move to acquire your ideal job role or if you require talent solution services.